Today is the the Disappearance of Śrī Īśvara Purī who was the spiritual master of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Even though Lord Caitanya, the Supreme Godhead, did not need a spiritual master, He accepted Śrī Īśvara Purī as His guru to establish the importance of accepting a spiritual master. In honor of his disappearance we are posting one verse from the Sri Caitanya-caritmrta describing the service he rendered to his spiritual master Śrīla Mādhavendra Purī.

…”At the last stage of his life Śrī Mādhavendra Purī became an invalid and was completely unable to move, and Īśvara Purī so completely engaged himself in his service that he personally cleaned up his stool and urine. Always chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and reminding Śrī Mādhavendra Purī about the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa in the last stage of his life, Īśvara Purī gave the best service among his disciples. Thus Mādhavendra Purī, being very pleased with him, blessed him, saying, ‘My dear boy, I can only pray to Kṛṣṇa that He will be pleased with you.’ Thus Īśvara Purī, by the grace of his spiritual master, Śrī Mādhavendra Purī, became a great devotee in the ocean of love of Godhead.”

Madhavendra Puri appeared almost mad in his love of God. He loudly chanted and sang the names and glories of the Lord without thinking of the time or place. Sometimes in his ecstasy he didn’t know whether it was day or night. Sometimes he laughed and sometimes he wept. Sometimes he danced wildly and sometimes he fell to the ground unconscious. He took absolutely no interest in anything not connected with Krishna, and for fear of talking about anything other than the Lord, he always lived without a companion. He would eat only if someone offered him food—otherwise he would simply fast.

In many remarkable ways Krishna returned Madhavendra Puri’s intense love. Once Madhavendra was fasting and meditating beneath a tree in the forest of Vrindavana, where thousands of years before Krishna had played as a child. Suddenly a beautiful cowherd boy (gopala) came with a pot of milk and placed it before Madhavendra. “Please drink the milk I have brought you,” the boy said. Seeing the beauty of the boy, Madhavendra Puri became satisfied in his mind, and hearing these sweet words, he forgot all hunger and thirst. Then within an instant, the boy left the place and did not return. Madhavendra Puri’s heart was filled with wonder. Later, he realized who the boy actually was and cried out in; great ecstatic love: “I saw Lord Krishna directly—but I could not recognize I Him!”

Western religion usually teaches us that God is someone to fear and revere. In India, though, great spiritual masters have long taught that we can go beyond this limited conception and worship God as our master, friend, or child. And about five hundred years ago Madhavendra Puri taught that we can even worship God as our dear beloved.

Madhavendra Puri also known as Madhavendra Puri Goswami appeared in the 14th century.

After making an extensive pilgrimage of India as a sannyasi he passed his life in Vrindavana and Orissa. The main source of knowledge about him is Chaitanya Charitamrita. He belongs to the Madhva line being a disciple of Lakshmipati Tirtha and he was the founder of the Vaishnava centre at Mathura, Vrindavana. He is considered a fountainhead of devotional worship of Krishna and he has started the worship of the Gopala deity, better known as Shrinathji. He is attributed to the discovery of the famous deity of Gopala near Govardhana that was later worshiped by Vallabhacharya, follower of Vishnuswami in Rudra sampradaya, who in turn was influenced by devotional mood of Vrindavana. He is also famed for receiving direct instructions and gifts from the deity of Gopinatha, who commanded him to travel for the supply of scarce sandal wood paste from Orissa to the Malaya Mountains.

Initiating the sankirtana movement
Madhavendra Puri is accepted as the initiator of the movement of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who accepted Madhavendra’s intimate disciple, Ishvara Puri as his diksa guru. He was preaching the principles of Gaudiya Vaishnavism prior to Lord Chaitanya.